Allegri wary of video ref turning soccer into baseball

BERGAMO, Italy: Juventus coach Massimiliano Allegri fears the use of video refereeing is turning football into a long-drawn out American sports extravaganza after the Serie A champions drew 2-2 at Atalanta.

Monday’s game in Bergamo was dominated by the use of VAR —video assistant referee—once to cancel a Mario Mandzukic goal for Juventus and the second awarding the Turin side a contentious penalty after a handball.

Juventus’ coach from Italy Massimiliano Allegri gestures during the UEFA Champion’s League Group D football match Juventus vs Olympiacos on September 27, at the Juventus stadium in Turin. AFP PHOTO

“We’ll end up like baseball in the United States, where there are constant stoppages and we sit there eating nuts until the match ends at midnight,” complained Allegri after his side saw their winning run this season stalled.

“In my view, technology should only be used on objective situations – offside, in or out of the box, over the line or not – but when it comes to subjective situations, people are never going to agree. That’s sport.

“If we want football to be a sport that is no longer a sport, then use VAR on every incident.”